BLUFFTON – The Bluffton University volleyball team will open up the 2020 volleyball season in the friendly confines of the Sommer Center with a non-conference home match versus Kenyon College on Tuesday, Sept. 1.

The Beavers will then hit the road September 4-5 to Latrobe, PA for the Bearcat Challenge on the campus of Saint Vincent College.

The Beavers will travel north for a non-conference matchup with the Adrian Bulldogs on September 9. On Friday and Saturday, Sept. 11-12 Bluffton will host the 8th annual Sommer Center Spiketacular. 

The rest of September includes home non-conference matches against Denison and backyard rival Ohio Northern. The Beavers will take their talents to the west coast from September 17-20 and compete in the Banana Slug Invite on the campus of UC Santa Cruz (CA). To wrap up the non-conference schedule, Bluffton will play in a tri-match at Capital University on September 26 before traveling to NCAA Division II the University of Findlay on Wednesday, Sept. 30. 

Bluffton will take strides to continue their streak of 12 consecutive years of qualifying for the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament.  The top six league schools qualify for the HCAC Tournament and the winner earns the AQ bid to the NCAA Regional Tournament. 

The Beavers have home contests with Earlham, Anderson, Manchester, Franklin, and Rose-Hulman with road tilts at Transylvania, Mt St Joseph, Hanover, and Defiance.

The HCAC Tournament is scheduled for the week of November 4-8.

Bluffton was 7-24 overall and 3-6 in HCAC play to finish sixth overall in the conference. The Beavers have won the HCAC Tournament five times ('09, '13, '14, '15. '16) in six finals appearances. Bluffton is led by Head Coach Steve Yarnell, entering his 16th season at the helm.

-BEAVERS-